


Like Bubblegum and Peanut Butter

by respoftw



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-10-03 10:30:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10242674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: Nothing goes together better than peanut butter and bubblegum.  At least, that's the saying in the McKay/Sheppard family.





	

Rodney would never doubt Jeannie again when she stressed the importance of not taking his eyes off Madison for a second. And it had been just one second; thirty at a push. Definitely no more than a minute while he left a scathing comment on the latest physics article in the Scientific Journal of America.

In his defence, they were sitting on a bus. There was surely a limit to the trouble that a four year old could get up to on a bus, right? Rodney had even taken the aisle seat so it wasn't like Madison could have ran away or disappeared. He was trying, damnit.

It was Madison's giggling that first drew his attention away from his phone. Madison giggled without abandon, like most four year olds did. Rodney couldn't remember what it felt like to be that happy and carefree. He wasn't sure he'd ever felt like that but Jeannie and Kaleb were a hell of a lot better at this parenting thing than his own parents ever had been. Madison's easy laugh was a testament to that.

It hadn't taken long to see what was causing Madison to giggle, he only had to raise his head to see the bright pink bubble gum Madison had persuaded him to buy (Rodney had capitulated only after eight different sources from google assured him that Madison was above the recommended age to be allowed chewing gum) was no longer in Madison's mouth but, instead, adorned the hair of the man sitting on the seat in front of them.

Rodney groaned, causing Madison to giggle louder and causing the man in question to turn around and look at him.

Rodney groaned louder because, of course, the guy was hot. Hazel eyes, a pointed chin dusted with just enough stubble to qualify as sexy rather than slobby and hair that stuck out in a million different directions, no doubt styled to perfection after an hour in the mirror.

"You OK there, buddy?" the man asked. His brows were furrowed in concern, creating a little crease in between his eyes that Rodney wanted to dip his tongue into.

Madison waved at the man, smiling happily. "Hi! I'm Madison!"

Rodney really needed to speak to Jeannie about teaching her the dangers of talking to strangers (and the danger of putting gum in their hair.)

The man turned to look at Madison, an answering smile breaking out on his face. Jesus Christ, if Rodney had thought he was hot before....

"Hi Madison," the guy greeted. "My name's John. It's good to meet you. Is your Daddy OK? Do you need help?"

"He's not my Daddy, silly!" Madison giggled. "S'my Uncle Mer."

"Ooookay," John drawled. "Well, is your Uncle Mer OK?"

"He's funny." Madison nodded. "And sometimes mean. But he took me to se the planets so I like him."

John smiled back at her but the little line of concern was still there on his face and Rodney swallowed his panic and lust down before John wrote him off as mentally deficient or something.

"Bubble gum," he finally managed to speak. Oh, fantastic job. Way to prove you're not an idiot. "It's...ah...in your hair," he clarified. "Madison must have...I only took my eyes off her for a second but.."

John's hand flew up to the back of his head and his mouth ticked up in a grin as he found the sticky mass attached to one of his cowlicks.

"Well, that's typical," he joked. "My CO was after me to get a regulation haircut for years and the day after I get discharged it looks like I'm gonna be forced into one."

Madison chose that moment to ask her Uncle Mer for another piece of gum and John let loose with a noise that was either an impression of an asthmatic donkey or a laugh. Rodney immediately wanted to hear it again, and every day for the rest of his life.

"I, ah, I've heard that peanut butter works." Rodney offered. "On the, y'know," he gestured at his own thinning hair. "It seems a shame to cut it if you don't have to. Take it from someone who knows what it's like to have a lack of hair," he joked lamely.

John's eyes travelled over Rodney's hair, taking a brief detour to dart down towards Rodney's mouth, before he broke out into a lazy smile that had Rodney's pulse racing.

"I'm gonna have to insist that you buy me the peanut butter," John said. "It is sort of your fault that I'm in this mess."

Rodney swallowed heavily, hoping he wasn't reading this wrong. "I'd say it was the least I could do," he agreed. "I mean, really, you should let me buy you dinner. Tonight."

John smiled, delighted. "It's a date."

-*-*-

From that day on, a new saying was coined in the McKay/Miller/eventually Sheppard family.

Nothing went together quite as well as bubblegum and peanut butter.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Just because the last chapter of Grow Old Without You that I posted earlier was so angsty.....


End file.
